Teen pleads guilty in Iowa teacher’s beating death

Apr 18, 2023 | 7:45 AM

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — One of two Iowa teenagers charged in the beating death of an Iowa high school teacher has pleaded guilty to first-degree murder

Willard Miller changed his plea to guilty Tuesday morning and admitted that he served as a lookout while Jeremy Goodale beat 66-year-old Nohema Graber, their Spanish teacher at Fairfield High School. Her body was found in a Fairfield park in November 2021.

Prosecutors said the evidence shows that both Miller and Goodale struck Graber with a bat. Investigators have said the attack was possibly regarding a dispute over grades in Graber’s class.

Prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence between 30 years and life in prison with the possibility of parole as part of an agreement with Miller.